Crashing Down
by lethal paine
Summary: Songfic -but you don't need to know the song to read the story. Naota's riding the Vespa with Haruko, he's hiding something, and begins to wonder if Haruko ever cared about him... [rated for themes of Major Depression]


**Crashing Down**   
by Seiri   
  
A/N: You don't have to know the song to understand the story. The song's Crashing Down by Sugarcult... and if you know who they are, you kick ass.   
  
I don't own Sugarcult, or FLCL... or Haruko. *weeps*   
  
(lyrics are two lines away from story)   
  
--------   
  
  
I've got something up my sleeve that I don't want to show you   
Cause every time I bleed I make a fool of me   
  
  
The saltwater wind rushed past me, rustling my hair in my eyes, as if it were going through me... as if I almost wasn't there. I was holding onto her, on her Vespa... just like before. It was unreal. Almost like a dream... like it has been so many other times.   
  
I could see over her shoulder now, and look out at the road in front of us. The glimmering water not so far from us now... as if I could fall in if I tried... but no, I felt the warmth from her body again, my arms around her waist. My grip became tighter, as if I didn't keep hold, she would leave... again.   
  
Suddenly, we picked up speed, and the long sleeves of my shirt blew back. My heart skipped a beat. She might see them.   
  
She might see all the scars.   
  
Darkened lines dashed across my arms, the skin tissue that would never be the same... some old... some new, pink flesh trying to hold the wound together.   
  
  
I've got shaky little fingers, that hold on to your grip   
You've got wrapped around my world   
So tight that I can't breathe   
  
  
I pulled one of my arms back and quickly tried to pull my sleeves back up. I must have tried to hard, because I lost my grip and for a few moments. They seemed to be forever, and I felt myself falling back... Then I felt my hand catch something, her waist. I breathed a sigh of relief as I regained my stomach.   
  
Does Ta-kun feel like going for a run? I heard her say to me, she must have noticed what happened. My heart skipped another beat... does that mean she saw them?! ... Would she care? ... Did she ever care?   
  
  
I'm suffocating   
  
  
I felt a sudden twisting feeling in my chest, constricting my lungs, keeping me from oxygen... My heart weighed down like it were lead. Why was she here? Why do I have to love her? She'll only end up leaving again.   
  
Maybe I should have just let go.   
  
  
We come crashing down   
Every time we go this far again   
  
  
She couldn't be here because she cares... She left before. I gave everything, and she still left.   
  
Not replying to her earlier statement, I just tightened my grip as before, only this time making sure my sleeves would stay where they were.   
  
When did that start? ... Oh, I remember. It was when I thought she and my dad...   
  
It was barely a scratch, it didn't even leave a scar. I don't even remember where it was. I didn't have to start wearing long sleeved shirts all the time yet. Someone asked me about that once... a year ago maybe? Why are you wearing a shirt like that? It's the middle of summer!   
  
I don't remember what I replied, if I did.   
  
  
We come tumbling down   
Every time we go this far again   
Every time we go   
  
  
We were approaching a turn. It jumped up in front of us, daring us to twist and turn. We leaned to the left, as if it were only one person leaning, and I hoped as hard as I could that my sleeves stayed. And I hoped as hard as I could that she would stay.   
  
The turn was sharp, and we showed no signs of slowing, so I took a breath. It's not as if I was afraid of it... I'd give anything for it, to be near her... It was the fact that I did not know how long it would last.   
  
  
I've got nothing that I hide except for what's inside   
I keep it all locked up, in this prison we call love   
  
  
So, after taking a breath, forcing my constricted and twisted lungs and throat to take in air, I leaned in a little bit, so that my mouth was next to where her ear was.   
  
Before I opened my mouth, I decided I to take another breath. Air passing out of my empty head, where I was committing to memory the way her hair smelled, I opened my mouth. Here goes everything.   
  
I love you.   
  
  
I'm suffocating   
  
  
Silence, only the sound of the seasalt wind passing by my ears... in my ears, through my head, out my nose. Nothing was there anyway, not even how I felt about her anymore.   
  
The moment I saw her mouth begin to open -my world was black. Then I realized I my eyes were shut... in pain. Something searing through my skull... like a watermelon being smashed with a sledgehammer.   
  
I was falling again, only this time nothing seemed to stop me, and I saw that yellow shooting star fly away from me... But then I saw her face, above me, a mixed look of confusion and concern... Huh?   
  
But then I felt something being expelled, shooting out of my head, seeming to take whatever was left inside of me with it. Then my brother...   
  
For a short instant my brother was there, and he was playing baseball, and he had hit a home run...   
  
  
We come crashing down   
Every time we go this far again   
We come tumbling down   
Every time we go this far again   
Every time we go   
  
  
I turned my head to see a pile of broken bones... no, machine parts... and all of a sudden I saw her face again, above me. Oh no. I just realized something, my sleeves... My arms were showing. I tried to pull my sleeves back down, but I couldn't feel my arms. She'll know...   
  
I could have sworn that she had a look of concern on her face if it weren't for the fact that she doesn't care about me...   
  
Her mouth was moving, but I couldn't hear her. She seemed so far away... or maybe I was the one that was far away.   
  
All of a sudden my vision went from her face and the amber sky to a horizontal horizon glimmering in the setting sunlight. My feet stopped touching the ground, and... She's lifted me up. I caught sight of the Vespa, abandoned and lying on it's side in the road. I was being held... she was holding me. I feared that I'd wake up any moment despite the fact that I felt like I was going to pass out.   
  
My nose picked up a familiar scent... her hair, and I found my head resting on her shoulder, and before I could have stopped myself, I let out a contented breath. The last thing I remembered was her hold on me grow tighter, and my world crashed down into black.   
  
  
Every time we go   
  
  
-----   
  
If she can break Medical Mechanica with that bass... she can pick up Naota even if he's a little older.   
  
To be honest, this wasn't easy for me to write -but you don't want to hear about my personal stories now, do you?   
  
Well, thanks for reading.  



End file.
